Month: April 2015

i was bowled over by the generosity of unibox.co.uk when i enquired about purchasing aluminium profiles to build my cyanotype box. they offered me the materials for free on the agreement that i remember them when i’m famous 😀

well, i’m not there quite yet, but i will get there with the support of family, friends, techs, tutors and the odd random stranger 🙂

at my last assessment it was clear that the construction of the cyanotype box had to match the quality of finish of the other pieces and i now have the chance to exceed that with the profiles, corners and gaskets unibox have given me. externally seamless, structurally sound, and fully dis-/re-assemblable – i couldn’t ask for more.

the finished cyanotypes will be mounted onto acrylic panels and slotted into the inner channels – obvs being large enough to fill the whole face. these test prints on cotton don’t show the inner lights brightly enough but i’m hoping that using more translucent silk will help in that respect.

these leds are destined for the inside of the cyanotype box. a major issue was how to create a 3d led spiral that can be viewed from both the top and sides (and just to be awkward i want the largest spiral to be at the top, the smallest at the base).

this version uses a large dog’s surgical collar (aka cone of shame :D) which is sturdy enough to support the led strings while being transparent – allowing a wide viewing angle. the plastic also reflects the lights, giving the effect of a double string. slight striations in the plastic also make for an interesting effect that echoes the fresnel screens i used in the laser drawing piece.

this test piece has 2 x 1m strings – the final one will have 4 in the same size cone. unfortunately i haven’t found a source for uncut strips in the uk but hopefully joins shouldn’t be too obvious.

there’s much tweaking of code still to be done, as well as adding motion sensors – to trigger the lights and to vary the colour depending on where the viewer is standing. and obviously a box to build/cyanotypes to produce…